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This week in wrestling has taught me one thing, and that is never try to finish the script
for your big Christmas wrap up video one week before xmas.
Jeez Louise will Vince and co just give it a rest.
But do look out for that video on this channel on Xmas Day.
Subtle plug.
This week saw Vince McMahon, accused as he is of multiple counts of sexual misconduct
and also bad business stuff, say that he would like to return to WWE.
Meanwhile WWE evoked the spirit of VinceMas by releasing Mandy Rose from her WWE contract
after they found out the kind of content she was posting on her FanTime page.
Once again proving that they are perfectly allowed to profit from a woman’s vaseline
lensed sexuality, but said woman is not themselves.
Rose was defiant in her release thanking fans and saying her “page is still up”, so
she must be making some serious cheddar from it.
But it does raises the question of which promotion will look to sign Rose now her time in the
E is over,
Well that might have been answered as on Busted Open Radio Tommy Dreamer said Impact would
love to have her:
“Yes, if she doesn’t go to AEW, one thousand percent Impact would love to have you.
Because you’re a star, and you’re great in the ring.
And if AEW doesn’t jump on that, hell, Impact will.
Hey Mandy Rose, call me.
Text me.
DM me.”
After discovering the types of things Mandy had been posting on her FantIme page it was
said that those within WWE though she had gone “way, way over the line”.
With Mandy on her way out though that does raise the question of what will become of
her stable Toxic Attraction - they should rename themselves Toxic Management in protest
is my pitch.
Well Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne might not need be worried as Fightful Select are reporting
that the pair have impressed some people of influence within the company during their
main roster appearances.
So hopefully this should mean that even with Rose gone the former NXT Women’s Tag Team
Champions will still get featured plenty on WWE programming.
And you know, not just hidden away while WWE waits for the furore to blow over.
One person they should be hiding away, for like, ever, is Vincent Kennedy McMahon who
has a wild year of sexual misconduct allegations levelled against him, lawsuits, SEC filings
and an eventual its ‘just time’ retirement.
However, Vince also crawled out of the woodwork this week to say that he had got some ‘bad
advice’ and was looking to make a comeback.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuu-
And though the idea is reportedly not very appealing to those still working behind the
scenes Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio said there could be a good chance that
McMahon could return.
That’d really put the cat among the pigeons.
And by cat I mean alleged pervert and by pigeons I mean women.
Meltz said that the possibility of a comeback is “pretty serious” as Vince controls
nearly 80% of all the voting power as a stockholder of the corporation, however, Vince would only
be able to make a return as CEO if the board vote for it.
Come on guys, time for a coup.
This also complicates any potential sale as it as to be approved by shareholders, so Vince
could essentially stop WWE being sold unless they put him back in power.
So he does have some leverage.
Again I say FUUUUUUUUUU-
Do we feel stupid or what?
So, it turns out despite the teases, the cryptic posts, the hashtags and everything else Sasha
Banks and WWE have been separated for quite some time now.
That’s right according to Fightful Select, Banks negotiated her WWE exit “months ago”,
and while WWE’s active roster page still has Banks listed as a current superstar it’s
a matter of time before this changes.
And when exactly will that be?
Well the same Fightful report indicates that Banks will be available to take bookings outside
of WWE from January 1st 2023, which obviously makes sense given Banks’ reported upcoming
appearance at WrestleKingdom 17 on January 4th.
Banks is rumored to be set to confront IWGP Women’s Champion KAIRI at the event, setting
up a program between the two.
Banks’ New Japan deal has reportedly been drawn up since last month and will see Banks
reportedly become the highest paid star in the history of NJPW and STARDOM.
Yeesh Mercedes’ BANK STATEMENT is certainly gonna be a bit juicy after that one… eh?
Eh???
Moving onto a current WWE superstar now, there has been an update on the injury status of
one Shotzi, who was the victim of a good ol’ parking lot beatdown on last week’s Smackdown
from Shayna Bayzler and Ronda Rousey.
The result of which would see Shotzi’s hand being slammed shut in a car door… ouch.
While this was perhaps presumed to be a kayfabe injury layoff it turns out the angle is in
fact a legit way to allow Shotzi time off to nurse a hand injury according to PWInsider’s
Mike Johnson.
Shotzi would later upload a photo of an X-Ray of her hand to her Twitter, revealing she
had suffered a fractured hand and is expected to miss around six weeks of action.
Now this isn’t the first example of WWE pulling a similar move with an injured Smackdown
star as back in early November Natalya suffered a brutal nose injury following a spot with
Bayzler.
However, this too was done to allow Natalya time off to have legitimate nose surgery immediately
following.
While it’s a small thing, I for one appreciate stuff like this and I’m glad WWE have found
ways to make legit injury layoffs hopefully turn into eventual storylines.
Either way we’d like to wish Shotzi a swift recovery and hope she can make it back for
some sweet revenge very soon.
Shifting away from WWE now and there has been a major development in the future of former
ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham, who has now put speculation over his future to an
end by shockingly appearing in the Impact zone last night.
Gresham, who last appeared for Impact back in April would return to confront Eddie Edwards,
the man who he was set to face way back at April’s Rebellion PPV, however due to an
injury Gresham had to pull out.
It looks like that match will indeed take place after all this time as in a backstage
interview following his confrontation with Edwards Gresham revealed that he would be
challenging Edwards to a match at Impact’s Hard to Kill event on January 13th.
Oh and he also revealed he has in fact also signed a contract with Impact going forward.
Gresham has had a rather tumultuous 2022, with his ROH title run prior to the company’s
purchase by Tony Khan leading to a reported fallout with TK following his decision to
have Gresham drop the belt to Claudio Castagnoli in the opening bout of ROH’s first Khan-led
PPV Death Before Dishonor back in July.
Regardless of what happened and which side you think was right Gresham is a great in-ring
talent so it’s nice to see him land somewhere full-time again.
Miro Miro Miro… where art thou?
Yep, that’s right after over three months of inactivity, Miro is still nowhere to be
found on AEW TV.
And if you ask me (and pretty much anyone who’s conscious) that’s an absolute crime.
While a recent report from Fightful blamed Miro’s lengthy hiatus on creative issues,
it was also documented in the report that Miro was eager to make a return as soon as
possible.
But now we can actually hear straight from the horses mouth directly as Miro and his
wife CJ Perry were interviewed on the red carpet for Disney’s National Treasure: Edge
of History, with Miro being asked by NEWS X MUSE’s Mike Sandoval on when he would
be next seen on AEW TV.
In which Miro responded:
“It’s not up to me.
I’m doing anything I can.
And from then on, I’m just sitting and waiting for the opportunity.”
So, the ball is firmly in TK’s court.
The man has only wrestled FOUR matches all year, so c’mon Tony throw the guy a bone
will ya?
While Wednesday’s Winter is Coming had its fair share of highlights perhaps none were
quite as memorable as the former ‘Ocho’ Chris Jericho being defeated by a ‘jobber’
known as Action Andretti.
The shock result came in Andretti’s first appearance on main-line AEW TV, with his only
appearances prior coming on AEW’s YouTube show AEW Dark.
However, it was reportedly his performances on Dark that in fact led to Jericho himself
suggesting the idea that Andretti be called up to Dynamite and defeat him.
Aww isn’t that sweet, Chris Jericho acting more like Chris Cringle am I right?
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio Dave Meltzer revealed more about that match and
what led up to it.
“The story behind this is that Action Andretti had a match on one of the streaming shows
(Dark) against QT Marshall, and Chris Jericho was watching the match, and decided at that
moment, ‘This guy’s gonna be a star’.
“And so he decided that he was going to make him a star.”
According to Meltzer, Jericho had picked Andretti out for the spot a long time ago, however
due to Jericho’s ROH title run, the plans were put on hold.
No matter what you think about Jericho, his ability to get things over is unmatched whether
it be catchphrases, hats and now I guess ‘jobbers’.
Finishing up with some more news on AEW’s Winter is Coming Edition of Dynamite and there
is finally some good news when it comes to Dynamite’s TV ratings.
After what has felt like a never-ending slump in viewership, this week’s show saw a major
boost not only in viewers but also for that treasured 18-49 demo.
However, unfortunately it was still not enough to crack that elusive one million mark yet
again albeit not by too much.
Dynamite’s overall viewership came in at around 950,000 on average, jumping an impressive
110,000 from last week’s show.
Importantly 428,000 of those came from the 18-49 demo according to Brandon Thurston of
Wrestlenomics.
This number saw a 0.33 figure overall, up from the 0.29 from the week prior and scoring
the highest number in over two months.
Most interesting of all was the jump in female viewership for the show aged between 18-34,
jumping up a whopping 31 percent over the last four week’s median figure for a total
of 51,000.
So yeah whatever you did this week to draw that figure, just keep doing it Tony, the
young women will thank you for it.
While the ratings have not resumed to Punk-era levels yet, Tony Khan will be hopeful that
this number can be a sign of things
to come going forward.